In the world of day care, Yarmouth resident Angela Garrison is hoping to stand out with the July 29 opening of her new Freeport day care, Beansprouts Early Learning Childcare Center, a year-round center serving ages 6 weeks to 5 years, located on Lower Main Street.

Garrison, 34, originally from Lewiston, is pinning her success on providing meals made with fresh, organic local ingredients and a “thoughtfully planned curriculum that will encourage growth, wonder, and happiness.”

Garrison, a former children’s apparel buyer for L.L. Bean, has no prior experience in running a day care, but is the founder of Change Your Food Change Your Future, a consulting business that helps educate parents and caregivers about the importance of proper nutrition.

Garrison, a University of Maine graduate, recently spoke with the Tri-Town Weekly on why she decided to open the center, how parents can get their kids to eat healthy, and her own experience attending day care as a child.

Q: How did the idea to open Beansprouts come about?

A: This all came about from having children and being a mom. After having children, I became hyper aware of what was in their environment and what was being put in their bodies through nutrition. They are like a blank canvas and I researched what was in our food supply. It’s not necessarily harmful to them now, but later on down the road is where I worry. The idea came last summer when my kids were in day care and when I would drop them off, I knew the day care operators didn’t carry over the same values my husband Bryan and I had. It would bother me all day, every day, because I knew they wouldn’t be eating the best food and cleaning chemicals were present. We live in such a toxic world, I just wanted to try and control the things I can. Especially now, I feel like we’re bombarded with more toxins than ever. If we don’t feed our children food to help them detoxify, that’s when toxins build up and disease can start. The fastest-growing age range for obesity is from 6 months to 5 years old, which is incredible if you think about it.

Q: How is Beansprouts going to be different from other day cares?

A: We’ve taken the best qualities of other day cares and used them here. We have created a home day care atmosphere but also incorporated a learning component. We use local foods from local organic farms and our education curriculum is overseen by Tina Daigle, who has a doctorate in early education. From ages 0-5, kids develop critical-thinking skills. Our curriculum is not cookie cutter either. We have developed the learning process with an individual child in mind and can teach at their particular pace or level. We’ll do everything from literacy, science, math and social studies. We’ll have 12 staff members and are paying above-average wages for teachers because we wanted to attract a high caliber of educator. The space (a former conference center) has been redesigned to make it feel like a home day care. In fact, we had a few kids visit last week and they were really excited and immediately started playing. That was really, cool.

Q: What is the cost and how many children can you take?

A: We’ve taken a market-tested rate and will try to make it affordable. We’re priced competitively with Toddle Inn (a Westbrook and Cumberland based day care), but include activities like music and yoga that are part of the cost.

Q: Did you grow up as a healthy eater?

A: No, I ate a lot of processed foods growing up. My mom did the best she could but she worked two or three jobs. We always had dinner, but it wasn’t the freshest organic kind. After graduating from high school and going to college, I continued to be a junk food junkie – literally no fruits or vegetables in sight – and it wasn’t until I started feeling really worn down that I began to eat healthy. I researched the effect processed foods can have on your body over the long and short term. So, I began to eat healthy and I feel healed myself. I thought about this experience when feeding my girls.

Q: Was it easy to get your daughters to eat healthy?

A: They’ve eaten healthy foods since they were born. They order salads at restaurants, make their own smoothies and ask for Brussels sprouts.

Q: Any advice for parents who are trying to get their children to eat healthier?

A: Involve the child in the decision-making process when it comes to food. When you go to the grocery store, bring your children and stop in the produce section so they can touch, feel and smell the food. Let them pick something and put it on the counter when you’re paying for it. They more involved children are the more likely they are to eat, kids feel like they helped in the process. Even if your child is picky, don’t give up. It can take up to 20 times before they will develop a palette for it.

Q: What are your memories of day care?

A: I went to the worst day care! Seriously, I used to get beat up all the time by these other girls. The day care provider would be spanking the kids and swearing.

Q: So there will be no swearing or spanking at Beansprouts?

A: Absolutely not. We don’t spank our children or swear.

Beansprouts Early Learning Childcare Center owner Angela Garrison with her two daughters Natalie and Caitlin outside of her Yarmouth home. Garrison is hoping to carve out a niche in the competitive world of day care by offering a chemical-free environment and providing locally sourced, organic meals to the children who attend.